Thy understanding is unsearchable and infinite,
Thy arm cannot be stayed,
Thy agency extends through limitless space,
All works hang on thy care,
With thee time is a present now.
Holy is thy wisdom, power, mercy, ways, works.
How can I stand before thee with my numberless and aggravated offenses?
I have often loved darkness,
observed lying vanities,
forsaken thy given mercies,
trampled underfoot thy beloved Son,
mocked thy providence's,
flattered thee with my lips,
broken thy covenant.
It is of thy compassion that I am not consumed.
Lead me to repentance, and save me from despair;
Let me come to thee renouncing, condemning, loathing myself,
but hoping in the grace that flows
even to the chief of sinners.
At the cross may I contemplate the evil of sin,
and abhor it,
look on him whom I pierced,
as one slain for me, and by me.
May I never despise his death by fearing it's efficacy for my salvation.
And whatever cross I am required to bear, let me see him carrying a heavier.
Teach me in health to think of sickness,
in the brightest hours to be ready for darkness,
in life prepare me for death.
Thus may my soul rest in thee, O immortal and transcendent one,
revealed as thou art in the Person and work of thy Son,
the Friend of sinners.
Friday, August 27, 2010
How can I serve you today?
I, by no means, have this figured out. Trust me. I struggle with this to some degree every day. Some days, I struggle with it a lot more than I know that I should. However, I have too often witnessed, and been guilty of, the disconnect between how poorly Christian men treat their wives and the example which Christ so perfectly gave us. Many of these men demand continuous servitude and submission to their will while sitting on their lazy-boy throne, passing judgments and making decrees from on-high. If, as Christians, we are to be Christ-like we should be servants. Ephesians 5 provides to us our charge.
(Eph 5:25 ESV) Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
(Eph 5:26 ESV) that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
(Eph 5:27 ESV) so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
(Eph 5:28 ESV) In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
(Eph 5:29 ESV) For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
(Eph 5:30 ESV) because we are members of his body.
The word “gave” in verse 25 has the meaning of “to surrender, to yield up”. Men, how often do we give up or yield ourselves to our wives? How often do we make sacrifices for our wives? How often do we, when our wives are exhausted or not feeling well, view them as the “weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:7) and step in and help them? How often are we hyper-critical of our wives? How often do we humble ourselves to perform “women’s work”? Do we provide a good example to our sons on how to treat their future wife? Or do we teach them that it’s ok to berate, belittle or even abuse their future wife? Do we show our daughters what type of man to look for in a husband? Or do we give our daughters a daily example of the type of man which she will refuse to marry? Will your daughter refuse to be treated the way you treated her mother?
A couple of years ago, I heard of a pastor who would on a regular basis, if not daily, ask his wife “how may I serve you today?” I know of several older Christian men who scoffed at this and thought that the man was crazy. One of the comments, which I heard, was “he’ll learn, he’s still a newlywed”. Excuse me? Was this seasoned Christian man implying that the newlywed pastor would learn to be more self-centered over time. And that would be ok? The more I have thought about this man and compared his servant’s heart with Scripture, the more I believe that his attitude is correct. As sinful men, we are selfish by nature. We expect dinner to be ready when we walk in the door. We expect our wives to wait on us. We expect our wives to do this or that. We make to-do lists for them and expect the items to be completed in a timely manner. We don’t allow our wives to do something if it inconveniences us. We expect our wives to act a certain way, to say certain things. We, too often, do not look at our own heart and see the wickedness of our sinful selfishness. If, by chance, we happen to see our sinfulness we will often try to excuse our sin by saying “But God, she doesn’t (insert selfish excuse here), so that’s why I don’t (insert what I should be doing)”. This pass the buck mentality sounds very similar to what Adam tried to use when God confronted him with his sin.
My wife has had a long history of health challenges over the years. Those of you who know my family are aware of this. At times throughout our marriage, I have had to pick up the slack where extended family and/or friends were not able to. We have had much help from those whom we love and from those who love us. To my shame, I have, at times of sinful carnality and wicked selfishness, gotten angry and/or frustrated with her or the situation and have thought, said or acted in ways that were not honoring to Christ or to her.
Husbands, we are commanded to LOVE our wives as Christ loved the church and GAVE himself for it. How our wife acts (or how we think she acts/thinks/etc….) is irrelevant to how we are commanded to act. There is no escape clause. There is no wife’s disrespect clause which gets you or I out of our requirement.
It is only by God’s grace that we can ever hope to love our wives in a way that somehow mimics the way that Christ loved, and still loves, the church. We need to ask daily that God will give us the grace and power to show the love of Christ to our wives by our affections, words and deeds.
(Eph 5:25 ESV) Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
(Eph 5:26 ESV) that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
(Eph 5:27 ESV) so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
(Eph 5:28 ESV) In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
(Eph 5:29 ESV) For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
(Eph 5:30 ESV) because we are members of his body.
The word “gave” in verse 25 has the meaning of “to surrender, to yield up”. Men, how often do we give up or yield ourselves to our wives? How often do we make sacrifices for our wives? How often do we, when our wives are exhausted or not feeling well, view them as the “weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:7) and step in and help them? How often are we hyper-critical of our wives? How often do we humble ourselves to perform “women’s work”? Do we provide a good example to our sons on how to treat their future wife? Or do we teach them that it’s ok to berate, belittle or even abuse their future wife? Do we show our daughters what type of man to look for in a husband? Or do we give our daughters a daily example of the type of man which she will refuse to marry? Will your daughter refuse to be treated the way you treated her mother?
A couple of years ago, I heard of a pastor who would on a regular basis, if not daily, ask his wife “how may I serve you today?” I know of several older Christian men who scoffed at this and thought that the man was crazy. One of the comments, which I heard, was “he’ll learn, he’s still a newlywed”. Excuse me? Was this seasoned Christian man implying that the newlywed pastor would learn to be more self-centered over time. And that would be ok? The more I have thought about this man and compared his servant’s heart with Scripture, the more I believe that his attitude is correct. As sinful men, we are selfish by nature. We expect dinner to be ready when we walk in the door. We expect our wives to wait on us. We expect our wives to do this or that. We make to-do lists for them and expect the items to be completed in a timely manner. We don’t allow our wives to do something if it inconveniences us. We expect our wives to act a certain way, to say certain things. We, too often, do not look at our own heart and see the wickedness of our sinful selfishness. If, by chance, we happen to see our sinfulness we will often try to excuse our sin by saying “But God, she doesn’t (insert selfish excuse here)
My wife has had a long history of health challenges over the years. Those of you who know my family are aware of this. At times throughout our marriage, I have had to pick up the slack where extended family and/or friends were not able to. We have had much help from those whom we love and from those who love us. To my shame, I have, at times of sinful carnality and wicked selfishness, gotten angry and/or frustrated with her or the situation and have thought, said or acted in ways that were not honoring to Christ or to her.
Husbands, we are commanded to LOVE our wives as Christ loved the church and GAVE himself for it. How our wife acts (or how we think she acts/thinks/etc….) is irrelevant to how we are commanded to act. There is no escape clause. There is no wife’s disrespect clause which gets you or I out of our requirement.
It is only by God’s grace that we can ever hope to love our wives in a way that somehow mimics the way that Christ loved, and still loves, the church. We need to ask daily that God will give us the grace and power to show the love of Christ to our wives by our affections, words and deeds.
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